Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps his Department has taken to reduce treatment waiting times for children and young people.

In February 2022, the National Health Service published a delivery plan setting out a clear vision for how the NHS will recover and reduce waiting times for elective services including treatment for children and young people. The steps being taken include increasing capacity, seeking alternate capacity in other trusts or the independent sector, and engaging with patients to understand their choices.

To support this recovery the Government plans to spend more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25, and an additional £5.9 billion investment in capital for new beds, equipment and technology.

Additionally, the NHS Long Term plan commits to increase investment into mental health services by at least £2.3 billion a year by 2023/24. Part of this increased investment will enable an additional 345,000 children and young people to access NHS funded mental health support.

In September 2022 we also announced ‘Our plan for patients’, which outlines how we will meet oral health needs and increase access to dental care, including access for children and young people.